I love a good banana bread. Among my all-time favorites is my Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. Naturally, I would be excited to try this Banana Cake Recipe. I understand that “perfect” might seem a bit exaggerated, but that’s my personal opinion of the Banana Cake.
This banana cake is a breeze to make and it’s absolutely delicious with buttercream frosting. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could try chocolate or strawberry frosting, or even a peanut butter topping.
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How to pick the right Bananas
The best bananas for banana bread are when they are overripe, not yellow but black. Or they’re at least streaked with black/brown. The darker the better. If you can’t find overripe bananas, you can speed up the process by putting the bananas in a paper bag along with an apple and loosely fold down the top. The bananas should ripen in just a day or two using this method.
How Many Bananas
On average, 1 banana will yield about 1/2 cup mashed. So you will need approximately 3 ripe bananas for this recipe. I say approximately because not all bananas are equal in size.
Recipe Tips
- You can use a potato masher to mash the potatoes instead of a fork.
- This recipe yields an ideal amount of cake batter for a 9 x 13 pan. However, you can adapt the recipe to use other sizes and shapes of cake pans if you prefer.
Buttermilk Substitution
If you don’t have Buttermilk on hand, you can use this trick as a substitute: Add one tablespoon of lemon juice to a measuring cup. Add milk and fill to the 1 cup measurement line. Stir the mixture together and let sit for 5 minutes. Since this recipe calls for 1 1/2 cup you will need to adjust the amount of milk and lemon juice accordingly, roughly 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice plus the milk
Another option is to use a cultured buttermilk blend. All you need to do is add water. I was very skeptical at first but in a pinch it works great!
Make sure you check out my other wonderful Cake Recipes as well as my delicious Banana Bread Recipes.
Gather your Ingredients
You will need the following ingredients to make this Banana Cake recipe (see recipe card for quantities): Bananas, Lemon Juice, Milk, All Purpose Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, Unsalted Butter, White Sugar, Light Brown Sugar, Eggs and Vanilla Extract.
How to Make The Perfect Banana Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Grease and flour a 9 x 13 dish. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix the mashed bananas with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, white and brown sugars.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Add the vanilla extract. Mix until fluffy.
- In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.
- Alternate adding the flour, and buttermilk to the egg mixture, mixing well after each addition.
- Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Check after 55 minutes. Make sure you don’t overbake.
- Let the cake cool for 10-15 minutes before moving it to a wire rack. Let it cool completely before frosting.
The Perfect Banana Cake 🍌
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Ingredients
- 1 ½ Cups Ripe Bananas, mashed
- 1 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
- ⅔ Cup Unsalted Butter, softened
- 1 Cup White Sugar
- ½ Cup Light Brown Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 Cups All Purpose Flour
- ½ Tbsp Baking Soda
- ¼ Tsp Salt
- 1 ½ Cups Buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Grease and flour a 9 x 13 dish. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix the mashed bananas with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, white and brown sugars.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Add the vanilla extract. Mix until fluffy.
- In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.
- Alternate adding the flour, buttermilk to the egg mixture, mixing well after each addition.
- Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Check after 55 minutes. Make sure you don’t overbake.
- Let the cake cool for 10-15 minutes before moving it to a wire rack. Let it cool completely before frosting.
I forgot to leave the rating in my previous post. Five stars!
This cake is really good and moist. Lighter than a banana bread. I used store bought cream cheese frosting but it’s my experience that homemade is always better. I will try it with the recipe linked here by Hot Rod’s. 🙂
Am I missing something? I’m not seeing the frosting recipe. Is there not one? I thought it looked good.
It is good! The cream cheese frosting is optional as you can use different types of frosting. In any case, we have a recipe here: https://www.hotrodsrecipes.com/cream-cheese-frosting/
This cake is so moist and delicious. Did not take long to make and the family just loved it. I will make it again.
If you love bananas this recipe for banana cake is for you. It is very moist and delicious. I will definitely make it again.